Santa (not Satan) Run....

Today was the Santa run in Battersea Park....very cool to see 6,000 Santas all running at once and was a lovely crisp morning although it gets surprisingly toasty running in a red low quality suit...who knew?!

I finished the 6km route in 25 mins 27 seconds....you can still donate to the charity organising the event (Disability Snowsport) from my link below:

http://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Long5

Ignore the fact on my fundraising page I put down that the event was called a Satan Run...quite a bad typo and there doesn't seem to be an option to edit that part of the page! Perhaps it's a good idea for a run on Halloween though?

                                                                       Start Line:

Finish Line

Santa's shop

Time for a mince pie...!

Nice support in the form of a re-tweet from a Team GB diver:

Istanbul (Olympic candidate city) 15km....

Today was the Marathon weekend in Istanbul....I didn't go for the full marathon race but the 15km.

It is the only race to cross two continents...we started in Asia and finsihed in Europe :-)

I finished in 1 hour 15 seconds and placed 51st out of around 4,000. I am pleased with the result although a little gutted I didn't make it under 1 hour!

Picture from the end and medal:

Istanbul has not hosted the Olympics as yet but have put a bid in to host the summer 2020 games....currently it is between Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo....so if they do get it then I will be slightly ahead of the game for my challenge ;-)

A picture below from the start (in Asia):

and the finish in the old town:

Now time for a wander and some baklava I think.....

The Great South Run

Today was the annual Great South Run in Portsmouth.

It was a VERY chilly wait for the start gun (about 2 degrees I think); however once we were underway I quickly warmed up.

Was a fun 10 mile route going past the Nelson's ship "Victory" in the dockyard and the Spinnaker Tower...

I managed to finish in a time of 1 hour 2 minutes and 22 seconds which placed me 122nd out of about 25,000.

Chuffed with my result as it is about 3 minutes quicker than my time last year (plus I managed to beat two former Olympians...Sally Gunnell and Iwan Thomas!)

Picture from the end below:

Some nice Team GB support:

Next stop...Istanbul in two weeks time!

Gutted...no running for me today

Not quite sure how I managed this but have scratched my eye and now am only able to see out of one eye!

Am very tempted to run in Windsor today but think it is probably not wise running as a real life cyclops plus the fact I have to put drops in my eye every hour (hence during the run and also throughout the night = severe lack of sleep since Friday!)

Am gutted as I don't like missing out on races but I will enter the race again at some point in the future.

Good luck to all running the half marathon today!

Olympic fact about Windsor:

The Internationl Olympic Committee agreed in 1907 that the distance for the 1908 London Olympic marathon would be about 25 miles or 40 kilometres. The organisers decided on a course of 26 miles from Windsor Castle to the royal entrance to the White City Stadium. The standard distance for the marathon race was set by the IAAF in May 1921 at a distance of 42.195 kilometres. This seemingly arbitrary distance was the metric conversion of the 26 miles and 385 yard distance that was used for the marathon at the 1908 summer Olympics in London.

A week or so after the race my eyesight has now come back (except for 3%) but I am sure I can live without that!

Another London run: Ealing Half Marathon

Just completed the inaugral Ealing Half Marathon! Another run in London so doesn't count towards a new Olympic city but still good fun!

I came 41st place (out of around 4,600) in a new personal best time of 1 hour 23 minutes and 14 seconds. Really chuffed as there were quite a few mean hills along the way! Perhaps the theory of "home advantage" rings true since it was around my local streets!

Have refuelled at the local pub ahead of the next half marathon next week in Windsor...apparantely that one is very hilly so no chance of a new PB there! Picture from the end of today's race below:

City 5 done: Helsinki

Completed city number 5!

The run in Helsinki was very very wet and I took a few wrong turns as it wasn't sign posted very well (oops!) but I still made it in a personal best time of 1 hour 25 minutes and 50 seconds! That was 20th place :-)

That wasn't the plan to run so quickly but it was pretty chilly so I figured the faster I went the quicker I would be able to have a cinnamon bun and the local gin drink which is served as a pint!

Picture from the end of the race below:

Next half marathon is next Sunday in London...fingers crossed for less rain!

Helsinki...the art deco Olympic city

Only one more sleep until the run in Helsinki....

Have spent the day around town and visited the Olympic Stadium:

Helsinki was due to host the Olympics in 1940 and built the stadium in art deco style that was popular at the time:

The Olympics were cancelled due to WWII and then didn't take place in the city until 1952....60 years ago:

There are awesome views of the city from the top of the tower:

It was the first Olympics in which Russian Federation and Israel competed in. The Olympic flame was lit by Paavo Numi who was a Finnish middle and long distance runner who won 9 Gold medals and 3 Silver
medals at the Olympics:

Now time to stock up on some carbs and sleep ahead of city 5's run tomorrow!

City 4 done: Stockholm

I have just completed the latest half marathon in an Olympic city...Stockholm!

I came 289th out of around 17,000 people in a time of 1 hour 26 minutes and 18 seconds! A personal best for me so am pleased with that!

2012 is the centenary that Stockholm held the Olympics so it has been fun to run here this year.

Of course my beloved Roxette are from Sweden so I was helped around the course by a few of their classics playing on my iPod!

A few pictures from the end below:

Next stop...Helsinki in 7 days time....

Ealing 10km

As a bit of a training run I have just done the inaugural Ealing 10km run.

It was a toasty day but good fun....thanks to Ealing Eagles for organising it :-)

A nice report about the run below....who is the mystery runner they mention?!!

http://www.ealingeagles.com/news/ealing-eagles-10k-eagle-eyed-view

I came 10th in a time of  37 minutes and 50 seconds which is a best for me so am going for beer and to see Lady Gaga tonight to celebrate! Some pics from this morning below:

Now only 6 days until the next Olympic City....Stockholm on Saturday! Watch this space....

Born to run?

Recently discovered a photo of me in one of my Mum's photo albums from 1988...me running in the ancient stadium in Delphi (Greece)...on the back she had written "Marathon Man Michael"....perhaps a sign of challenges to lie ahead later in life?!

Check out picture below:

City 3 done!

Just back from Tokyo...

Completed the 5km time trial at a running track with a local running club in a time of 19 minutes and 2 seconds!

Personal best for me so am pleased...especially since it was 35 degrees and very humid (as you can tell from the sweaty picture below!)

Thanks to the running club for letting me take part and for taking me for a curry afterwards! Super fun night :-)

Picture (taken from my hotel room) in Tokyo promoting their bid for the 2020 games below:

Now onto more training before the next city in  few weeks....

Some old challenges...

Attached some pictures of medals from old events already done (some including Athens and London)...

 - Liverpool triathlon
 - Athens Marathon
 - Great North Run
 - Step challenge up the Gherkin in London
 - Las Vegas half marathon
 - Run to the Beat half marathon in London
 - Great South Run
 - British 10km in London
 - London Moonwalk

One week to Tokyo..

Only one week to my Tokyo run...5km time trial with a running club who are very kindly letting me partake in their monthly event:

http://www.namban.org/index.php/about/club

Will keep you posted on how I do :-)

In the pipeline....

Cities I am entered  / planned and ready to go:

Antwerp - 10 mile run in April 2013
Barcelona - half marathon in February 2013
Beijing - triathlon in September 2013
Berlin - 25km run in May 2013
Helsinki - half marathon in September 2012
Paris - half marathon in March 2013
Rome - half marathon in February 2013
Stockholm - half marathon in September 2012
Tokyo - 5km time trial in August 2012
Munich - half marathon in October 2013
Seoul - 10km in November 2013

Progress so far..

Cities I have completed:

Athens - completed the marathon in 2010
London - British 10km (2008), Moonwalk (2008 & 2012), The Great Drag Race (2011 & 2012)

The challenge!

The challenge: To complete either a half marathon, run, cycle, swim or triathlon in every city that has hosted the summer Olympics...

Cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Antwerp, Atlanta, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mexico City, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Rome, Seoul, St. Louis, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo.

Timeline: To complete the above in time to run in Rio in 2016....